LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - EM and contractor Los Alamos National Security (LANS) have safely and successfully completed cleanup of the Los Alamos townsite.
Since 2005, EM and LANS have investigated and cleaned up, when required, 115 legacy sites in compliance with the 2005 Compliance Order on Consent (Consent Order) with the New Mexico Environmental Department (NMED) and the 2016 Consent Order. Those sites were located on properties owned by private entities, Los Alamos County, and DOE.
LANS subcontractor TerranearPMC completed cleanup of the last two remaining legacy sites in the Los Alamos townsite in July. Their relatively inaccessible location along Los Alamos Canyon, combined with the canyon’s steep, uneven topography, required use of a crane to enable the safe movement of a spider excavator, fieldwork personnel, waste bags, and restoration materials.
In summer 2016, TerranearPMC competed remediation of four legacy sites within or next to DOE property on the south-facing slopes of the canyon. The location and topography required temporary site infrastructure for equipment and materials staging to ensure safe and effective site access, soil cleanup, site restoration, and waste management operations.
In late spring 2015, TerranearPMC cleaned up contaminated soil on DOE property just south of Smith’s Marketplace, a local grocery store. Working with experts from LANS subcontractor TerranearPMC, DOE and Los Alamos National Laboratory used a specialized telescoping crane and spider excavator to remove mercury-contaminated soil at former Technical Area 32.
Three sites in the Los Alamos townsite located on adjacent DOE property are not expected to require cleanup. In coordination with the NMED, DOE will address these sites administratively through regulatory processes under the 2016 Consent Order.
The laboratory conducted Manhattan Project and Cold War work at the former Technical Area 01 (TA-01). Perched on a plateau near a canyon edge, TA-01 is part of the Los Alamos townsite.
TA-01 was home to several chemical and physics research laboratories. Operations there and at nearby technical areas resulted in legacy soil contamination. Since the early 1950s, these sites have undergone decommissioning, demolition, investigation, remediation, and construction. By the late 1950s, much of the land was turned over to non-DOE entities for commercial, recreational, and residential uses.
Before cleaning up legacy sites, DOE and the laboratory analyzed the nature and extent of contamination, which included chemicals such as solvents, metals such as lead and mercury, and radionuclides such as uranium and plutonium.
Most of the original infrastructure from legacy operations has been removed over the past several decades. DOE and the laboratory evaluated the soil surrounding previously building sites, waste lines, underground storage tanks, septic tanks, waste storage areas, outfalls, and additional infrastructures.
If soil samples indicated contaminant levels above regulatory standards, DOE and the laboratory removed the soil until the site met acceptable risk-based cleanup levels of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The risk-based cleanup levels are based on the projected land use, such as commercial or residential development. Workers removed and packaged soil in compliance with waste management regulations, and sent it to licensed disposal facilities.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
